Title: The Wonderful Wild West

Periodical: The New York Times

Date: September 2, 1894

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THE WONDERFUL WILD WEST.

Out-of–Town People Form a Large Part of the Spectators at Ambrose Park.

A distinctive feature of the Wild West show last week was the noticeable presence among the spectators of out-of-town people. The hotels as well as the residents of Greater New-York seem to have come to a thorough appreciation of the many remarkable and instructive features of this exposition and of telling their guests and friends. A visitor naturally inquires on his arrival in New-York where to go, and it is gratifying to see, by the unusual increase of strangers among the audiences, so many pleased faces.

The Wild West is the only big amusement attraction this year around New-York, and naturally, as well as because of its unusual merit, draws greater audiences than anything else which is presented to the public. So meritorious are its performances that it has been justly compared to those splendid Summer attractions which always delight the visitors of Europe, notably Berlin, London, Vienna, and Paris. The fact is, Europe, which the Wild West visited and where it afforded so much delight, keeps up with its every movement, and many offers have been received by Messrs. Cody & Salsbury to transfer their show abroad, but they love their native land, and as long as it pleases Americans and their guests, it will continue here.

It should be borne in mind that the exhibition is very different from what was presented at Erastina several years ago. In it can be seen episodes of life in the distant West, far from the haunts of civilization, which, even in portrayal, blanch the cheek and make the blood dance in one's veins, but it is at the same time very interesting and instructive. The scenes enacted by savages, scouts, and cowboys are pictures of what has occurred and will occur just as long as the Indian remains a savage and the great lands on our immense frontier are unsettled. But it should not be forgotten that this period is fast drawing to a close, and these scenes may never again be witnessed.

No adequate idea can be formed of the realism of the scenes where a posse of Indians fights a battle and annihilates the flower of the best cavalry Uncle Sam ever put in the saddle, led into a valley of death, as it were, by the gallant Custer; where wild Indians attack the Deadwood coach and are driven off by cowboys, headed by Buffalo Bill, and the thrilling occurrence of savages attacking a cabin, and the rescue of the frontiersmen by cowboys, and the desperate fight, as powerfully depicted at Ambrose Park. The banging of rifles and pistols, and the excitement attendant upon a battle on horseback, a forty-acre field being filled with the combatants, is a sight never before seen, except in reality, of which this is a most graphic and faithful reproduction. Other features are many and interesting, instructive, and amusing.

In addition to the tableaus presented by the Indians, Gauchos from the Argentine Republic, for the first time seen in North America, give fine exhibitions of horsemanship, lassoing and throwing the bolas. Bisento Orapeso, the champion lasso thrower of Mexico, with a troop of experts, does some very fine work that is always appreciated. All Americans know what the cowboys are and what they can do. Their riding is simply superb, and their daring acts on bucking bronchos are among the most interesting features of the exhibition. The riding of the Cossacks, standing on their heads, with feet in mid-air, then dropping to the ground, vaulting into the saddle again, waving and sheathing sword aloft, is a most thrilling spectacle.

It is a conceded fact by all managers that the best acrobats who have ever been in America are the Arabs and the little Jap, Tochio, who accompanies them. The picture of one Arab holding aloft in the form of a pyramid and moving around with ten others, whom he supports by main strength, must be seen to be thoroughly understood and admired.

The Wild West always pleases. Its attractions are novel, and, as the public gradually has become accustomed to admiring them, each one tells his friends to go, with the marked result of increased audiences. The best route is by way of the Thirty-ninth Street Ferry, which affords a pleasant sail across the bay, but the grounds can be reached by other ferries, which make direct connection with the trolley cars of Brooklyn. Besides the features mentioned, there is splendid sharpshooting by Col. Cody, Anne Oakley, and Johnnie Baker.